Friday, September 24, 2010

Day One - The CNN crew and our crew board the MV Kate in Florida for an overnight trip to the Bahamas. We have been tasked with delivering a shark story as part of a larger documentary for CNN.

We have one day to shoot it.

I have never been a fan of one day shoots with wildlife. For reasons that run the gamut from poor weather, to badly behaved animals. We did a shoot in June with AT and T that required the full 5 days worth of commitment to get the right animals to do the right things.

The ace in the hole for this trip was the MV Kate and Blue Iguana Charters and an A list shooting crew we put together (Gorton's Fisherman, Simon) along with CNN's topside shooters Lando and Leon.

Add to that CNN's Bahamas show host Luke Tipple who is one of the best wild animal front men in the industry right now for both delivering serious minded shark content and for natural camera ability...we had the deck stacked.

Crossing The Blue

The crossing this week was brutal. The recent hurricanes in the region jacked up waves to 12 feet and we took most head on, flooding the top side AC in the process at 2am. You know you're in the middle of it when the top deck takes a wave that rearranges almost everything.

Arrival to Port Lucaya was met with a weary relief, tough crossings through the stream are not much fun and we have done a few over the years. I rated this one a 7 out of 10. We docked and CNN started shooting Lukes stand ups and intro to the shark piece. We had planned for at least 24hrs to let the weather settle and grab a beer in town.

The beer was welcome, Kalik Golds at Shenanigans, with a surprise visit from the Queen of Bahamian shark diving Cristina Zenato who spent some time with us talking shark shop. Cristina is one of my personal favorites in the shark diving industry ever since I met her a few years back.

Enthusiasm is a word that barely explains her love for Bahamian sharks and just listening to her talk shop is always a welcome moment to anyone in the industry visiting the area. Her recent conservation work will be newsworthy and exciting when it becomes public.

Dinner was perfect tonight and the crew came home to the Mighty Kate for a nights rest. Tomorrow's 6.30am start would begin a grueling shoot day.